This publication provides data and information about marriages registered and divorces granted in Australia in 2016 on a state or territory of registration basis rather than a state or territory of usual residence. The publication presents statistics on the number of marriages registered, crude marriage rates, median age at marriage, age-specific marriage rates, previous marital status, use of marriage celebrants, country of birth of those marrying, and living arrangements for couples prior to marriage. Divorce statistics in this publication provide state, territory and national level data for the number of divorces granted, crude divorce rates, ages at marriage, separation and divorce, age-specific divorce rates, divorces involving children, duration of marriage prior to divorce, and applicants for divorce.

2016 KEY POINTS

There were 118,401 marriages registered and 46,604 divorces granted in Australia in 2016. The median age of couples marrying for the first time has continued to slowly rise over the past two decades, with grooms now likely to be closer to 30 years and the bride in her late twenties.Australian men and women are getting married later but also staying married longer, with the number of divorces granted declining over the last 20 years.

Ideally, for compiling annual time series, the number of marriages should be recorded and reported as those which occurred within a given reference period, such as a calendar year. However, there can be lags in the registration of marriages with the state or territory registries and so not all marriages are registered in the year that they occur.

An additional data cube has therefore been included for 2016, showing the year marriages were celebrated (the date of occurrence). With exception to the statistics published in this Year of Occurrence data cube, all marriages referred to in this publication relate to the number of marriages registered, not those which actually occurred, in the years shown.

MARRIAGES

The number of marriages increased in 2016 by 4,806 (4.2%) and the crude marriage rate increased slightly from 4.8 in 2015 to 4.9 marriages per 1,000 estimated resident population in 2016.

Civil celebrants have overseen the majority of marriages since 1999 and the proportion of marriage ceremonies overseen by a civil celebrant increased again to 76.4 per cent of all marriages in 2016.

In 2016, the majority of brides (81.2%) and grooms (79.3%) had not been married before.

The median age at marriage for males in 2016 was 31.9 years an increase from 31.7 in 2015. The median age at marriage for females in 2016 was 29.9 years, an increase of 0.1 years since 2016.

DIVORCES

The number of divorces decreased by 1,913 (-3.9%) in 2016 and the crude divorce rate decreased from 2.0 divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population in 2015 to 1.9 divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population in 2016.

The median duration from marriage to divorce in 2016 was 12.0 years, a slight decrease from 12.1 years reported in 2015.

The median age at divorce for males was 45.5 years of age and the median ages of females was 42.9 years of age for those divorces granted in 2016 - an increase of 0.2 years of age since 2015 for both sexes.

The largest proportion of divorce applications were from joint applicants, accounting for 42.7% of divorces. Female applicants accounted for 32.1% of divorce applications while male applicants accounted for 25.2%.

SUMMARY TABLES

MARRIAGES

In 2016, there were 118,401 marriages registered in Australia, an increase of 4,806 (4.2%) from the 113,595 marriages registered in 2015. The crude marriage rate increased from 4.8 to 4.9 marriages per 1,000 estimated resident population.

The median age of males and females at marriage was 31.9 and 29.9 years respectively in 2016. The median age at marriage for males has increased by 0.2 years, and the females have increased by 0.1 years since 2015.

The proportion of marriage ceremonies performed by civil celebrants has continued to increase in 2016, with civil celebrants performing 76.4% of all registered marriage ceremonies, an increase from 74.9% in 2015.

Couples who lived together prior to marriage accounted for 80.8% of all marriages registered in 2016, a decrease from the 81.0% recorded in 2015.

Marriages where both partners were marrying for the first time accounted for 72.3% of all marriage in 2016. The number of marriages where one partner was marrying for the first time decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 16.0% in 2016, while the proportion of remarriages for both partners increased from 11.7% in 2015 to 11.8% in 2016.

In 2016, 54.5% of couples married were both born in Australia, 31.6% were born in different countries, and 13.9% were born in the same overseas country.

(b) Care should be taken in interpreting Victorian data from 2012 and 2013 as the category values were calculated from a weighted sample. Please see Explanatory Note 29 for further information.

(c) A larger than usual number of 2015 marriage registrations have been delayed until 2016. This has contributed to a low count of marriages and the ABS recommends caution when comparing the 2015 count and rate with other years. See Explanatory Note 31 for further information.

(d) Marriages per 1,000 of estimated resident population at 30 June for each reference year respectively. See Glossary and Explanatory Notes 44-45 for further information.

(e) Excludes marriages where the rite is not stated or not defined. Registers of ministers of religion are maintained by states and territories under the authority of the Marriage Act 1961. Data on religious marriage rites are classified to the Australian Standard Classification of Religious Groups (ASCRG), 2011 (cat. no. 1266.0). Please see Explanatory Note 20 for further information.

(f) Excludes marriages where country of birth of one or both partners is not stated.

DIVORCES

In 2016, there were 46,604 divorces granted in Australia, a decrease of 1,913 (-3.9%) from the 48,517 divorces granted in 2015.

The crude divorce rate for the number of divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population decreased by 0.1 to 1.9 in 2016.

The median age of males and females at divorce was 45.5 and 42.9 years respectively in 2016. Median age at divorce in 2016 has increased by 0.2 years for both males and females from 2015.

In 2016, divorces involving children represented 46.9% of all divorces granted compared with 47.5% in 2015. The number of children involved in divorces totalled 40,202 in 2016, a decrease from the 42,303 reported in 2015. The average number of children per divorce involving children in 2015 was 1.8 (unchanged since 2013).

The median duration from marriage to divorce in 2016 was 12.0 years, a slight decrease from that reported in 2015. This number has been decreasing very slowly from a peak of 12.5 years in 2006.

Over the last 20 years, the proportion of divorces granted as result of joint applications for divorce has been increasing. This has continued in 2016 to the point where joint applicants are the highest applicant type for the seventh year in a row, with 19,879 divorces granted from joint applications, compared with 14,962 from female applicants and 11,763 from male applicants.

1.2 SELECTED DIVORCE INDICATORS, Australia, Selected years, 1996-2016

1996

2006

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Divorces granted

no.

52,466

51,375

49,917

47,638

46,498

48,517

46,604

Crude divorce rate(a)

rate

2.9

2.5

2.2

2.1

2.0

2.0

1.9

Median length of marriage

To separation

years

7.6

8.9

8.6

8.5

8.4

8.5

8.4

To divorce

years

11.0

12.5

12.2

12.1

12.0

12.1

12.0

Divorces involving children(b)

Divorces

no.

28,138

25,733

24,144

22,590

21,840

23,063

21,864

Proportion of all divorces

%

53.6

50.1

48.4

47.4

47.0

47.5

46.9

Total number of children

no.

52,455

48,396

44,834

41,747

40,152

42,303

40,202

Average number of children per divorce(c)

no.

1.9

1.9

1.9

1.8

1.8

1.8

1.8

Relative birthplace of people granted divorce(d)

Both born in Australia

no.

29,369

27,416

25,301

24,385

23,565

24,826

23,707

Both born in same overseas country

no.

7,080

,7082

8,623

8,180

8,091

8,233

8,119

Born in different countries

no.

15,705

14,430

13,517

12,904

12,746

13,430

13,294

Type of applicant(e)

Male

no.

17,005

15,171

12,958

12,329

12,090

12,178

11,763

Female

no.

24,155

20,574

17,140

15,658

15,127

15,337

14,962

Joint

no.

11,306

15,582

19,819

19,625

19,281

21,002

19,879

na not available

(a) Divorces per 1,000 estimated resident population of males or females, at 30 June for each reference year respectively. Only those people aged 16 years and over, and therefore eligible to marry according to the Marriages Act 1961, are included. See Explanatory Notes 3 and 41–43 for more information.

(b) Unmarried children of the marriage who were aged under 18 years at the time of application for divorce. See Glossary for more information.

(c) Excludes divorces not involving children.

(d) Excludes divorces where country of birth of one party or both parties is not stated.